You need the likes of Delaney to get through the 'grunt' as I put it. You wouldn't want a team full of them, but for every magic player who can sniff something out or display something special, you need the 'grunt' to be able to get you in that position.

He and Paul Medley were quite a contrast in the second row ....

If he did return 4 kick offs it still means 6 other kick offs were probably returned by the other props. As griffin lasted only the first 10 mins or so the other props excluding griffin probably had 2/3 returns each. Kirke carried the ball strongly against London and deserves crrdit for that. Doing that on a weekly basis is what lets him down.

I think JJB and Hauraki both shouldn't be far off from coming back so we will have some new options in the backrow soon. I'm not even sure if this is relevant to what is being discussed but this just came into my head.

Kirke did have a decent game ,he also had a decent game against Widnes and wasn't the worst player in the rout at ST's unfortunately we wont/dont be have 14 players off key(v ST's) or play Widnes and London every week.
Now if he backs that up on friday and more importantly the week after against a big catalan pack then maybe overall opinions may soften but i won't be holding my breath especially after Singletons form and Pitts' departure.

Were you too busy concentrating on how tired Ryan Hall looked to notice Delaney put Ablett over for our first try?

Or perhaps his ball to Ablett for the break that led to BJBs 1st try?

Did you miss the comments from our coaching staff that the space exploited by our backs on the left was because London overcompensated their defenders to our right, a right where Delaney and Ablett had been marauding.

I often do wonder if we watch the same team you and I Gotcha.

He's been our best forward since moving to the pack. I think his & Buderus form towards the end of the season was one of the reasons we got to the Grand Final & won it. Having said that, yesterday he gave away a few silly penalties after half-time.

The more I see about Kirke this season the mote I think that when given a decent stint in the game rather than the 15 minute breather for JP then he actually performs pretty well.

I'm just not sure why he doesn't perform better in his low minutes games

Perhaps he's making a subtle point....too subtle for anybody else to notice

To the best of my knowledge Ryan Bailey returned 0 kickoffs and JP maybe had one. Probably due to the fact these two didnt always line up at the back. Kylie and singo and a couple of returns each but Kirke had the lions share, distorting in part is m/carry.

However it was still an improved performance and he has been looking better of late. It is as you say a matter of consistency

It's interesting to note that when Kirke does the first carry from the kick off it "distorts" his m/carry stats but when JP or Kylie do the same it is evidence of their value to the team.

Spot on

JJB about 4 - 5 weeks and Hauraki 1 - 2 weeks I think.

I don't know if this has been mentioned in this thread but while smith was named at 7 he clearly didn't play as a 7. He defended further inside than a 7 traditionally would and he attacked a lot wider as a full back. Webb played the role of pivot.

I still think he has a long way to go and against a good side he could have been exposed but by having a hand in at least 5 tries I think he showed glimpses that the raw natural talent still exists somewhere

Are you sure???



Only joking, thats good news better for jjb

There's definitely talent in there. I'm hoping he'll find some confidence soon and turn it around - I really want him to do well. Before he went to Union he looked like he was born to play League. You could count him to be in the right place to score when it really mattered.

I'd have thought it was better for Huaraki. Surely 1-2 is better than 4-5

I meant in terms of how long they thought he was going to be out for, plus he's a better player imo

I knew what you meant, hence the wink.

There's no need for the imo on the end of your last sentence either, he's clearly a better player.

It's looking good for our back row at the moment key players coming back soon, As already said they've done alot of work in their absence, JJB will be a massive boost.

Jonesy is three weeks away, and weller could be available for the Catalan game

weller definately targetting the catalan game spoke to him at the broncos game

The problem Hauraki will have is that IIRC the Under 20s don't have a game for three weeks. I'd be surprised to see him back in the first team squad without a run out in the lower grades first.

Hey, here's a thought - why dont you play Burrows at 7; Sinfield at 13, & play the forwards in their true position ? Worth considering ??

Oh sorry - that has been tried before without any real success, other that a few Grand Final wins, A couple World Club Champion wins, etc, !! Oh well, never mind - Mac knows best ?

Burrows doesn't exist, Sinfield has played at 6 quite a bit, including the triumph over Bradford in the 2004 GF. Last year Ablett played at centre (not his 'true position') in the Grand Final and Burrow played off the bench - debateable what position he actually played, but spent a fair bit of time at dummy half. Oh well, never mind - troll knows best?

Don't you and Swiftcorn have a piece of string you could play with together or something?